Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has an estimated urban population of 4,126,815.
Mogadishu is located in the coastal Banaadir region on the Indian Ocean, which, unlike other Somali regions, is considered a municipality rather than a maamul goboleed (federal state).
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. Stretching across the Horn of Africa, it borders Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, and the Indian Ocean to the east. Somalia has the longest coastline on Africa's mainland. Somalia has an estimated population of 18.1 million, of which 2.7 million live in the capital and largest city, Mogadishu. As one of Africa's most ethnically homogenous countries, around 85% of its residents are ethnic Somalis. The official languages of the country are Somali and Arabic, though Somali is the main language. Somalia has historic and religious ties to the Arab world. The overwhelming majority of the population are Sunni Muslims.
In antiquity, Somalia was an important commercial centre. During the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade, including the Ajuran Sultanate, Adal Sultanate, and the Sultanate of the Geledi. In the late 19th century, the Somali sultanates were colonised by the Italian and British empires, who merged all of these tribal territories into two colonies: Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland. In 1960, the two territories united to form the independent Somali Republic under a civilian government. Siad Barre of the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) seized power in 1969 and established the Somali Democratic Republic, brutally attempting to squash the Somaliland War of Independence in the north of the country. The SRC collapsed in 1991 with the onset of the Somali Civil War. The Transitional National Government of Somalia (TNG) was established in 2000, followed by the formation of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) in 2004, which reestablished the Somali Armed Forces.
Italian Somaliland (Italian: Somalia Italiana; Arabic: الصومال الإيطالي, romanized: Al-Sumal Al-Italiy; Somali: Dhulka Soomaalida ee Talyaaniga) comprised self-ruling protectorates and colonial possessions of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day Somalia. It lasted from the late 19th century to 1941, when it was occupied by British troops; from 1950 to 1960 it was revived as the UN Trust Territory of Somalia under Italian administration.
Following two treaties in 1889, Italy established a protectorate over northern Somali territories ruled by the Sultanate of Hobyo and the Majeerteen Sultanate. In the south, the Italians established colonial rule over Adale in 1892, Mogadishu, Merca, Barawa and Warsheekh in 1893, Giumbo and Luuq in 1895, Jazeera in 1897, Afgooye, Maregh, Barire, Mellèt, Danane and Balàd in 1907–1908, and the territories between the Shabelle and Jubba rivers in the following years. During this period, the Bimaal and Wa'dan revolts near Merca marked the Somali resistance to Italian expansion, coinciding with the rise of the anti-colonial Dervish movement led by Mohammed Abdullah Hassan'.
The Transitional Federal Government (TFG; Somali: Dowladda Federaalka Kumeelgaarka; Arabic: الحكومة الاتحادية الانتقالية; Italian: Governo federale di transizione della Somalia) was the internationally recognized provisional government of Somalia from 14 October 2004 until 20 August 2012. It was established in Nairobi, Kenya, following the Transitional National Government (TNG), and formed part of an internationally backed peace process aimed at restoring state institutions after the collapse of the Somali Democratic Republic in 1991. The TFG operated under the Transitional Federal Charter and represented the 14th attempt to establish a central government since the outbreak of civil war.
Initially based in Kenya, the TFG relocated to Somalia in 2005 amid internal divisions and low public confidence. The first administration, led by President Abdullahi Yusuf, was plagued by disputes over the deployment of foreign troops, deep factionalism, and competing claims of authority. With strong military and political backing from Ethiopia, the TFG was installed in Mogadishu following Ethiopia's 2006 invasion to overthrow the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). This intervention triggered a protracted insurgency led by Al-Shabaab and other Islamist factions. The subsequent Ethiopian military occupation severely undermined the TFG’s legitimacy and contributed to widespread violence, displacement, and the rise of one of Africa’s deadliest insurgencies.
A salt evaporation pond is a shallow artificial salt pan designed to extract salts from sea water or other brines. The salt pans are shallow and expansive, allowing sunlight to penetrate and reach the seawater. Natural salt pans are formed through geologic processes, where evaporating water leaves behind salt deposits. Some salt evaporation ponds are only slightly modified from their natural version, such as the ponds on Great Inagua in the Bahamas, or the ponds in Jasiira, a few kilometres south of Mogadishu, where seawater is trapped and left to evaporate in the sun.
During the process of salt winning, seawater or brine is fed into artificially created ponds from which water is drawn out by evaporation, allowing the salt to be subsequently harvested.
Lufthansa Flight 181, a Boeing 737-230C jet airliner (reg. D-ABCE) named Landshut, was hijacked on 13 October 1977 by four militants of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine while en route from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to Frankfurt am Main, West Germany. The hijacking aimed to secure the release of eleven notorious Red Army Faction leaders held in West German prisons and two Palestinians held in Turkey. This event was part of the so-called German Autumn, intended to increase pressure on the West German government. The hijackers diverted the flight to several locations before ending in Mogadishu, Somalia, where the crisis concluded in the early morning hours of 18 October 1977 under the cover of darkness. The West German counter-terrorism unit GSG 9, with ground support from the Somali Armed Forces, stormed the aircraft, rescuing all 87 passengers and four crew members. The captain of the flight was killed by the hijackers earlier in the ordeal.
The Trust Territory of Somaliland, officially the Trust Territory of Somaliland under Italian Administration (Italian: Amministrazione fiduciaria italiana della Somalia), was a United Nations Trust Territory from 1950 to 1960, following the dissolution of the former British Military Administration. It was administered by Italy before gaining independence. It covered most of present-day Somalia and its capital was Mogadishu.
Merca (Somali: Marka; Arabic: مركة) is the capital city of the Lower Shebelle province of Somalia, a historic port city in the region. It is located approximately 109 km (68 mi) to the southwest of the nation's capital Mogadishu. Merca is the traditional home territory of the Bimal clan and was the center of the Bimal revolt.